Page 27 of Mateo & Nicole

He couldn’t tear his focus from her. Every flutter of her eyelashes, every sharp intake of air into her lungs—it gave her away.

And he couldn’t deny the thrill it gave him to know that he affected her in a similar way that she did him. It gave him the confidence he needed to take the next step—to inquire of her about what he wanted to know most.

“Nikki,” he whispered, “haven’t you ever wondered what it would have been like if things had been different ten years ago?”

“Sir?”

Inwardly, he groaned. “Don’t call me that. Don’t call me Mr. Palmer.”

“What did you want me to call you?” she said, her voice trembling. They were so near, all he’d have to do was close the inch between them and he’d be able to brush his lips against hers.

“By my name.”

She blinked again.

“You think you can do that?”

“Are you sure that’s… appropriate?”

“You’ve called me Mateo before. Why would now be any different? Unless, of course, you’re just trying to put distance between us.”

Nikki swallowed audibly. “Wouldn’t that be for the best?”

“According to whom?” he rasped. “Because I can assure you, it’s not in my best interest.”

“It’s… not?”

Here it was. The moment he’d been waiting for—the moment where he could tell her exactly how he felt and where he wanted things to go from here. There were worse things than to fall for someone who worked for him—like losing the first chance at love he’d had in over a decade.

He opened his mouth to speak but was cut off by the loud holler of someone entering the cafeteria. “Ms. Reynolds!”

She jumped back from him as her wide eyes flew to the door just before it swung open, revealing a panicked-looking young cowboy. He glanced from Nikki to Mateo and back. “It’s Paxton.”

Immediately, the room was in an uproar. Nikki charged for the door. “Where is he?”

“He’s hurt. He fell from the ladder in the barn.”

Nikki was out of the room in a flash of brunette hair. Mateo raced after her, his heart thundering harder than it had when he’d been about to confess his feelings to her.

13

Nikki

Nikki’s heart slammed into her chest, propelling her forward as she sprinted toward the barn. She couldn’t believe she’d allowed this to happen. Paxton had insisted he wasn’t going to go anywhere near the barn. He’d wanted to go outside and watch the cowboys work for a while, and she’d figured there was no harm in letting him.

But she should have known better.

Paxton was an inquisitive child. He was also more confident in his own abilities than he should have been at his age.

She didn’t even realize tears were streaming down her face until she stopped long enough to look for Paxton the second she’d made it to the barn door.

He sat whimpering, holding his arm close to his chest. He looked up at her, tears drawing streaks down his dusty cheeks.

Nikki gasped, only vaguely aware of the two men behind her as she rushed for her baby. “What happened?” she demanded, her voice sharper than she’d intended. “You didn’t listen to me, did you? I told you not to get into any trouble, and you didn’t listen.”

“Nikki,” Mateo said softly, his hand on her shoulder. “It was an accident.”

The mother bear inside her wanted to scream at him to step back and let her handle this, but the woman who was scared to death for her son wanted nothing more than for Mateo to pull her into his arms and reassure her.

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